The Okapi Promise is a travel adventure with a series of twists and turns that come together in a surprise ending.
A cure for rabies is discovered in the heart of Africa. Two unknown adversaries join a small tour group to gain the serum. One wants to use the cure for the good of all mankind; the other for personal glory and profit.
Marc, the debonair Dutchman, seems to be everyone’s friend but has a secret life. Derek, a Swiss doctor, tries to help the world’s ill while at the same time struggles to overcome his own tragedy. Fiona, a naïve New Zealand nurse, must overcome her feelings of inadequacy in order to survive. Cheryl, an American executive, is out of her depth away from the city. From pygmies in the Itari forest to a dictator’s mercenaries, the peoples of the world meet in the heart of Africa, all with their own goals to achieve.
The travellers are threatened by wild animals, tribal unrest, personal hardship and vehicle breakdowns. The race to patent the new drug is against more than time. The physical and emotional challenges of the journey across the whole continent leaves no-one unchanged—and one of them won't come out alive.
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Have you ever had to cut a road through thick jungle with only a machete while being threatened at gun point? Author Paula Boer has, and shares this and many of her other adventures in this fictional memoir of 1990. Crossing from Tanzania to Nigeria, the author’s five month overland tour turned holiday into horror with the unrest that led to the Rwandan genocide.
Wanting to capture her experiences, Paula used her journal as the basis for this novel. Soon, the story took over and led the characters on to Europe and the United States in a race where there could only be one victor. Share Paula's journey with this thrilling immersion into an African intrigue.